


The First Foundling

by heavensent03



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adopted Children, Adoption, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fatherhood, Foundling, Mando'a, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22180771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavensent03/pseuds/heavensent03
Summary: What if The Child was not the first foundling Din Djarin took in?Years before, The Mandalorian comes across a terrified, orphaned girl and must decide if she is worth turning his world upside down for.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 83





	1. Chapter 1

He had never meant to take on a foundling.

While he was grateful that the Mandalorian’s has taken him in as a foundling, he had long ago decided that it was not something he was ever going to do himself. Sponsoring the foundlings and watch them grow from afar was all he wanted. Raising a child was stressful enough, let alone raising a child within the Mandalorian ways. Besides, he was content with his life was it was; alone, never staying in one place too long, taking whatever job that may come along. That was no life for a child, and he had no desire to change his way of life anytime soon.

Yet change is exactly what happened on that fateful day.

He had taken on a job hunting down a Devaronian. Most of his bounties were required to be produced alive for payment to be received but this one was different. They wanted him terminated immediately and he could understand why. The Devaronian has been travelling from planet to planet, slaughtering anything or anyone that he came across. He was a stone-cold murderer that needed to be stopped.

He was not the first hunter they had sent after him. He was the 12th. Every hunter who had gone after him was now dead. They were having a hard time finding a hunter to accept the job now, even after tripling the payment. Truth be told, he would have taken on the job for free. He had a lot more emotions that he cared to admit, and the thought of someone out there mercilessly killing innocent families made his blood boil. It reminded him of his own tragic childhood.

He tracked the Devaronian to Gahlik, a small, barren planet on the outer rim. It was sparsely populated with most of the inhabitants being poor refuges escaping their war-torn home planets. He landed the _Razor Crest_ on the outskirts of a small village. Before he left the ship, he mentally went through all of the weapons he had on him, a habit he developed to make sure he was never caught missing one. His Amban sniper rifle was slung over his back, the vaporizing slugs it used strapped to his leg, his blaster holstered at his hip, a vibroblade stowed in each boot.

The adrenaline was already starting to pump through his veins. He wasn’t scared, not that a Mandalorian would even admit to such a feeling even if they were scared. He was excited. This is what he loved to do. He was a hunter, stalking down his prey.

As he walked towards the village, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he was on alert. It took him a second to place what was wrong; the silence. A normal village would be filled with the sounds of playing children, vendors trying to sell their wares, the sounds of people going about their daily routine. The sounds of life. There was absolutely no noise coming from the village. The crunch of gravel beneath his boots was the only sound reaching his ears.

As he began walking through the village, he soon saw why there was no noise. Everyone was dead. Bodies were strewn across the ground. He briefly bent down to inspect the body of a man, trying to determine the cause of death. It appears no weapons had been used, the Devaronian had killed them with his bare hands. The further he walked into the village, the worse the massacre became. Limbs ripped from bodies, heads bent at unnatural angles, pools of blood creating small trickling rivers weaving through the gravel. His eyes swept through the carnage, quickly looking elsewhere whenever he came across the bodies of children. He found the body of a baby, wrapped in a blanket, still clutched within his dead mothers arms. He clenched his fists as anger rolled through his body. He wanted nothing more than to find this man and instill onto him all of the fear and destruction he had done to these people.

He kept his hand poised over his blaster, ready to grab it at a moment’s notice. The blood on the ground had only just begun to congeal and the bodies were still warm. He could still be here, or he had just missed him. He crept through the village, ears alert for any sound. He was considering moving onto the next village when the sound of a scream pierced through the silence. His head whipped around to the direction of the sound. It was the scream of a child; a primal, life-fearing scream.

He sprinted towards the sound, jumping over the bodies of those already fallen. The child screamed again and he felt his heart constrict. If he got there too late...   
Following the screams, he ran into one of the small huts and took in the scene before him. The Devaronian was standing in the middle of the room, his hands dripping blood from the tens of people he had already slaughtered. In the corner of the room, huddled beneath a table was a small child. She looked around 7 years of age, and even from a distance, the terror in her eyes was clear. A child seeing a Devaronian for the first time would be enough the scare them, with their red skin and devil looking horns atop their head. Seeing one for the first time after it had just murdered your entire village would be enough to scar the kid for life.

Less than a second had passed since he had arrived and the Devaronian was yet to notice his presence, but the child spotted him straight away. She let out a small whimper, obviously unsure if he was there to help her or the Devaronian. The monster took a step towards her and Din reacted immediately. He unholstered his blaster and fired off 3 shots, enough the take down a normal person but with the Devaronian’s thick sick, they didn’t make a dent.

The Devaronian turned around and let out a grunt. He charged at Din and landed a punch square on his chest. His beskar absorbed most of the force but it was still enough to knock him off his feet, flat onto his back. He scrambled back onto his feet to see the monster advancing on the child, who was trying to back up further but there was nowhere to go. Din raised his arm and deployed his fibercord whip with a grappling hook at the end. It wrapped itself around his neck and with one hard tug, sent him tumbling to the ground. He used his momentary advantage to get the monster away from the kid, pulling him via the cord out of the hut. The Devaronian managed to unravel the cord from around his neck within a matter of seconds.

He fired off a blast from his flamethrower that yet again had no effect against his tough skin. The Devaronian charged at him and both of them went crashing to the ground. He didn’t even have a moment to catch his breath before he was picked up by the monster and slammed back down onto the ground. He was picked up again, this time thrown against the wall of the hut which easily dented under his weight. He grabbed his rifle and swung it off his back, ready to vaporise the monster into nothing but he had already grabbed hold of the barrel and ripped the weapon from his grasp, throwing it far out of reach. He was picked up and thrown again. As Din rolled and got back into his feet, he reached for the vibroblade stashed in his boot.

The ultrasonic vibrations that the blade gave off made it more effective than just a normal knife, being able to cut through most armor. He was sure it would be enough to penetrate the Devaronian’s tough skin and kill the bastard. The monster charged at him again, and just before he reached him, Din ducked and dodged to the side. As the monster turned around Din was ready. He sunk the blade deep into the Devaronian’s throat and pulled. Black blood spurted from the wound, quickly coating the front of the monster’s clothes. It was a fatal wound but Din wasn’t stopping, sending the blade into his chest again and again and again. He collapsed to the ground, unmoving, as his thick black blood pooled beneath his body. It was a quicker death than he deserved. He’d wanted the monster to suffer, to feel the fear he had made all of these poor people feel.

Din holstered the blade back into his boot and took a moment to catch his breath. It was only when he heard the quiet sniffle from a crying child did he remember the kid still in the hut. He made his way back inside to see the child was still in the same position, underneath a table with her knees drawn up to her chest. As he slowly approached her, he could see her recoiling and trying to make herself smaller.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, his voice slightly distorted by the helmet’s modulator. “You’re safe now. The bad man’s gone.”

He crouched down to look at her under the table. She was staring at him with wide, unblinking eyes, clearly still afraid. He couldn’t blame her. Here was a faceless man, dressed in bloodstained armor, trying to get her to trust him after she had just gone through an unspeakable horror. Seeing her crouching in the dark, alone, quickly reminded him of his own childhood horror. His mind flashed back to that dark day; the sounds of gunfire and explosions ringing in his ears, seeing his parents terrified faces as they placed him in the bunker alone, quickly followed by the sound of an explosion that no doubt resulted in their deaths. All the emotions he felt that day came flooding back and he understood exactly what the small child was feeling right now. He remembered seeing the Mandalorian open up the bunker and stare down upon him, the fear at not knowing if this faceless man was a friend or enemy.

“You can’t stay here. We need to go,” he said softly, repeating the words which were once spoken to him. “You can trust me, I won’t hurt you.”

He reached out a gloved hand towards the child. She looked from his helmet, down to his outstretched hand. He could practically see the thoughts going through her mind, wondering if she should trust him, what she would do if she rejected his hand and ran. Finally, after a minute of waiting, she slowly reached out and took his hand with her own. She crawled out from beneath the table, stood and looked up at him. Now she was out of the darkness he could see her properly.

She was small, barely reaching his hip in height, with long dirty blonde hair and sea blue eyes. She was dressed in a ragged tunic dress which had seen better days, and frayed boots which looked like they would fall apart on her feet at a moment’s noticed. The terror in her eyes had lessened but was still there. There was a spray of blood that had dried upon her cheek, probably the blood of one her parents. He wondered if her parents had hidden her in her, just like his parents had tried to hide him.

He realized there was something he needed to do first before he could get the child out of here.

“There’s something I have to do quickly. You stay here, I’ll be right back, I promise.” She gave a small nod in understanding.

Din let go of her hand and went back outside. He first gathered his rifle which had been flung from him before making his way to the Devaronian’s body. He grabbed the blade from his boot again and swiftly sliced the horns from his head. Proof of termination.

He stowed the blade and horns away and returned to the hut. How was he supposed to get her back to the _Razor Crest_ without her seeing all of the carnage in the village? The bodies out there were people she knew, children she played with, and at least one of them was probably her parent. Knowing they were dead was one thing, seeing their mangled bodies was another. That was an image she would never be able to get out of her mind.

He knelt down so he was level with her face. “I’m going to take you to a safe place. I’m going to carry you to my ship but there are some bad things out there that I don’t want you to see. I want you to close your eyes and not open them again until I say. Can you do that?”

She nodded. “Ok, close your eyes now.”

She squeezed her eyes shut.

“I’m going to pick you up now. Remember, don’t open your eyes.” He picked her up gently and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his chest and her arms around his neck. He placed an arm underneath her body to support her and the other one wrapped around her back. He realized this was the first time he had ever held a child. He hoped he was doing it right; it was the way he had seen parents carrying their children before.

He glanced over to make sure her eyes were still shut before stepping out of the hut. He walked as quickly as he could, stepping over bodies and puddles of blood. Every now and then he would look over to make sure she wasn’t looking. Her eyes remained firmly squeezed shut. He let out a breath of relief when the _Razor Crest_ came into view. He walked up the ramp and into the ship before he gently lowered the child to the ground.

“You can open your eyes now.”

Slowly she opened her eyes. He noticed that they were slightly red, no doubt from the tears she had shed while fearing for her life.

“You’re safe now.”

She began looking around at his ship. It was dark, dirty, and small, but it was home for him. As she glanced around his attention was bought back to the blood on her face. He didn’t have a lot of mirrors in the ship, having no real need for them, but there were enough shiny things around the ship that she could see her reflection in. He would hate for her to see the blood of her family and friends on her face.

“You have some dirt on your face. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He walked over to this storage area and pulled out some cloth. She quickly trailed after him, as if afraid to be too far from him. He damped the cloth with some water from his canteen and knelt down to her. He wiped at her cheek softly, the dried blood slowly coming off. He had made sure to pick a dark cloth so she would not be able to see the red blood staining the cloth as he wiped it off her face. After her face was clean, he wiped each of her hands to get some dirt off them. He stood back up. She looked up at him and pointed at his chest. He looked down and saw his armor had the black blood of the Devaronian on it.

“I got some dirt on me too.” He used the same cloth to quickly wipe the blood from his beskar, grateful that the blood was not red.

As he threw the cloth aside and the silence settled in the ship, he realized he had never really spoken to a child before. What was he supposed to say to her? All of the words he thought about saying to comfort her just seemed so inadequate. There was nothing he could say now that would make her feel better. All that could help her heal was time and support.

He settled back down onto his knee so he could look straight into her eyes. “What’s your name?” he asked.

She bit her lip but said nothing as she stared at his helmet.

“My name is…Din.” He had not said his own name aloud for many years. He had briefly considered lying about his name, or simply saying it was ‘Mando’ as many people automatically did. Names were important and not something freely given out. They had to be earned, only disclosed to people you respected and trusted. Yet as he stared into the blue eyes of this small child, he felt compelled to tell her the truth; to give her a part of him so she didn’t feel so alone.

She continued to remain silent. Did she not speak Basic? She certainly understood it as she had followed his directions to close her eyes earlier. Was there another language that her people spoke? Was she mute? Was just choosing not to speak? Maybe she was just too scared to say anything. He had heard of people not talking after going through a trauma. It was some sort of coping mechanism or something.

Not being able to see his face probably wasn’t helping her to feel any better. “I can’t take my armor or helmet off. It’s a rule with my people.”

She simply continued to stare at him. That’s when it finally hit him. He had a child in his care. He had no idea how to take care of a child. What did they do? How often did they need to eat? How much did they need to sleep?   
He had no idea what he was supposed to do next. There was no way he was capable of taking care of anyone but himself. Flying around the galaxy and hunting people for money was no life for a child. He couldn’t take care of her so he had to find someone who could. Someone more heartless than him might have just left her on her planet, or found the nearest city to dump her in and run. It was not a good time in the galaxy to be an orphan. There had been rumors of children being snatched to be raised in the Empire, learning to fight and kill people when they were barely big enough to hold the weapons. 

He wasn’t going to leave the kid with just anyone. He needed to know she would be taken care of. At the back of his mind he knew there was always the option of her becoming a foundling. Mandalore, like many other planets, had seen wars erupt and casualties lost. Some of the tribes had already moved their foundlings off-world to be raised. He could find a tribe willing to raise her as their foundling and leave her to be raised with them. At least then he knew she would be well looked after. Mandalorians valued children above all else. Foundlings are the future. But he wasn’t ready to decide what to do with her just yet so she would stay with him in the meantime.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left comments and kudos on my first chapter. I have decided to turn this story into a series, so keep looking out for new chapters.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

She nodded emphatically. He was not surprised. Judging from the state of the village she had lived in a good meal would have been few and far between. He rose and made his way to his food storage. It was bare save for a small, bland ration bar. He had planned to use the bounty he would receive from this job to stock up on supplies and make some much needed repairs on his ship.

“I have to do something first and then we can find some food.”

He scaled the ladder up into the cockpit and she immediately followed him up. He watched as her eyes widened in wonderment as she looked around the cockpit. Had she been in a ship before? Probably not, he thought, as she examined all the buttons, levers, and knobs. He lifted her into one of the chairs behind his and strapped her in.

She followed his movements intensely as he flicked switched and pushed buttons to start the ships engines. She let out a small squeak of excitement as the ship lifted from the ground and began to rise into the sky. The corner of Din’s mouth tugged up into a half smile.

He set in the coordinates for Tatooine, the current headquarters of the bounty hunters guild. Once he delivered the horns from the Devaronian he would get his bounty and be able to buy a meal for himself and the kid.

They had soon left the upper atmosphere of Gahlik and were shooting through space heading for Tatooine. Normally he might have used this time to clean himself up or polish his armor but he couldn’t do that now. It was extremely unusual to have another living soul on his ship. He didn’t know what he should do. He wasn’t a small talk kinda guy, not that it mattered since she wouldn’t reply to him anyway. He simply stared out of the windows of his ship, watching the stars as they flashed by.

He quickly glanced over his shoulder to see the kid was fast asleep in her seat, her head slightly tilted to the side. He hoped she was dreaming about something nice. He remembered the first few nights after being rescued where the hardest. Whenever he had closed his eyes he had seen his parents worried faces as they tried to protect him. Every dream had been a nightmare, filled with blood, and dead bodies. He cried a thousand tears each night, terrified to fall asleep and see it all again. He still had nightmares to this day but he didn’t shed tears anymore.

Time passed quickly as he listened to the soft and steady breaths coming from the sleeping kid. He tried to land the ship as gently as possible on Tatooine so as to not disturb her from her slumber. He powered down the ship then spent the next 5 minutes debating whether to wake the kid up or not. Stars know she probably needed the sleep but if she woke up while he was gone, she would panic. He made the decision to wake her up and spun around to find a pair of blue eyes staring at him.

“Time to go,” he said.

She followed him down the ladder and out into the streets of Tatooine. They were bustling with people. As he weaved through the crowd, he felt something tug at his hand. He looked down to find the kid had grabbed onto his hand and was walking extremely close to him. He felt a surge of emotions rising in his chest but quickly pushed them away.

Together they walked through the streets, heading for the local cantina which was the headquarters for the guild. They passed vendor after vendor, each one of them trying to push whatever they were selling onto him. He ignored them all until something caught his eye. A small, elderly woman was selling various toys and gifts for children. Among the toys was a small leather-bound book and box of coloured pencils.

The kid wouldn’t or couldn’t speak, but maybe she could write? At the very least she could draw and colour to keep herself distracted. He pulled out the last few credits he had and handed them over to the woman.

“You have a very beautiful daughter,” she said.

“She’s not my daughter,” he said matter-of-factly. 

The woman raised her eyebrows but said nothing as she handed over the book and pencils. He took the items with his free hand and continued on. He drew a few looks from passer-by’s; a Mandalorian walking hand in hand with a small child was not something you see everyday.

They made it to the cantina but had only taken one step inside before a man stepped forward and blocked their path.

“No children allowed,” the man said gruffly.

“She’s with me.”

“No children allowed,” he repeated. He suddenly made a move to grab the girl.

Din pushed the kid behind him as he grabbed his blaster and placed it square against the man’s chest. “I said, she’s with me.”

The man stared him down, neither of them moving for a minute. Finally, the man stood aside. Din walked into the room and immediately found the man he was after, Greef Karga. He was situated in a booth at the back of the room.

Karga spotted the Mandalorian as soon as he entered the room, and was not very adept at hiding his surprise when he noticed the small child in the room that was following the masked man.

“Who’s the kid?” he questioned.

Din ignored him as he sat the child at the table next to the booth and placed the book and pencils in front of her. He then slid into the booth opposite Karga but kept throwing glances towards the child. She was less than 2 meters from him but he was worried if he took his eyes off her for too long something would happen.

He pulled out the Devaronian’s horns and slid them across the table.

“Ah! I knew you could do it Mando. That’s why you’re the best.” Karga grabbed the horns and replaced them with a large pile of credits. “Triple the reward, as promised. So, who’s the kid?” he asked again.

“The Devaronian killed everyone in her village. She was the only survivor.”

“What are you going to do with her? You don’t look much like the paternal type.” Karga looked around to check no one was eavesdropping before leaning in towards Din. “I could get you a good price on the black market,” he said in a low tone.

This was one of the times Din was glad he had a helmet on to hide his face from displaying all of the emotions he was showing. “She’s not for sale,” he said with a finality in his voice that let Karga know to never bring it up again.

When he next looked over to the child, she was drawing in the book, scribbling furiously with a blue pen. He smiled.

“Here’s your next job,” Karga said as he slid a new bounty puck across the table.

He grabbed the puck without even looking at the bounty. They were getting quite a few stares thrown at them and he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. He exited the booth and collected up the book and pencils the kid had been using. Every pair of eyes in the cantina followed them as they walked out. He instantly felt lighter as they stepped out into the street. Bounty hunters were not the most reputable of people, and having the kid sit in a cantina surrounded by them made him more anxious than he cared to admit.

Now that he finally had some credits, he went in search for some food for the poor kid to eat. He was used to living on a tight budget, going days on end without eating sometimes, but that was no way for a kid to live. She needed food every day, a soft bed to sleep on; things she probably hadn’t had for a long time.

They came across a merchant selling fresh food, and he quickly purchased some haroun bread, a worrt casserole, and blue milk for the kid. They sat at a small table near the food stall and he placed the food in front of her. Her eyes widened as she took it all in. Any other starving kid would have just grabbed the food and begun shovelling it into their mouth. She, however, looked hesitant, as if she would be scolded if she reached for the food.

“Go on,” Din encouraged.

Finally, she reached out her small hands for the bread and took a bite. She smiled as she chewed. Slowly she chipped away at the food and milk, taking her time as if she was savouring each bite.

Din found himself smiling behind the helmet as he watched her eat. He liked to think himself a stoic, detached man but the more time he spent with the kid, the more he realized he was anything but. The kid bought up emotions he had never felt before, emotions he didn’t know he had. He found himself actually caring about the kid. Seeing her happy made him happy. He never thought he would like a kid, let alone find himself thinking about taking one on. Was it something he could handle? What if he decided to raise her, only to come to regret the decision years down the line? A child wasn’t something you could give away if you changed your mind. If he took her on it would be a lifetime commitment. He wasn’t positive that was something he could do right now, if ever.

He was bought out of his thoughts as she pushed the food towards him. As he looked down, he realized she had eaten exactly half of the food, and saved the rest for him.

“You eat it all.” He pushed it back towards her.

Once again, she hesitated but after a moment she continued to eat.

Were other kids this thoughtful? Din wondered. Stars, she was more thoughtful than most adults. He hoped that wherever she ended up, she wouldn’t lose her kindness as she got older.

After she had finished eating, they walked through the streets and Din stocked up on food. The more they walked, the more comfortable the kid became with the numerous people and loud noises. But she still kept her hand in his the whole time.

She didn’t let go until they were back on the _Razor Crest_. He was thankful when he noticed her yawning. He himself needed to eat and desperately needed to clean himself up. He lifted her up and placed on her on his bed, a small mattress in what was meant to be a storage area.

“You can sleep here,” he said. He saw the flare of panic in her eyes. “I won’t go anywhere,” he promised.

She crawled up to the top of the mattress and laid her head down on his pillow. He waited until her breaths had even out and she was truly asleep before leaving her side. Walking into his small bathroom, he began taking is beskar off, one piece at a time. He removed his helmet last. The small mirror in front of him was covered in a layer of dust and grime. He was not a vain man, having spent more of his life with his helmet on than off. But he found himself wiping the mirror off and staring at his reflection.

Wide brown eyes stared at him, with more wrinkles surrounding them than he remembered. He had a few bruises blossoming on his face from the fight with the Devaronian. His brown, shaggy hair was due for another cut, something he did once a month haphazardly with his knife. He continued to stare at his reflection for a few minutes, unsure what he was looking for.

He quickly showered and dressed again. He was happy to see the kid was still asleep when he came back out. He was beginning to feel exhaustion creep into his bones. He grabbed a ration bar before going up into the cockpit and sitting in his pilot seat. He had fallen asleep in his seat on more than one occasion, and he was more than happy to give up his bed so the kid could get some decent sleep.

He pushed a button on the dash and the ship windows darkened so nobody would be able to see through them. After he removed his helmet he quickly ate the bar and drank some water. He then promptly replaced his helmet on his head. Even though no one could see into the ship, it was a habit to keep his helmet on. Anything could happen and he never wanted to be caught without it on.

He propped his feet up onto the dash and reclined in the seat. It didn’t take long for him to drift onto into slumber. He was plunged into a nightmare he was all too familiar with. Shots were being fired, explosions were going off, people were screaming. He was clutched tightly in his fathers’ arms as they ran through the streets, dodging fire. His mother ran along beside them, her panicked screams ringing in his ears. They reached the bunker. His parents hugged him then ushered him down the ladder. He reached out a hand for them, begging them to not leave him alone. The last words he heard were from his mother, telling him they loved him very much. The bunker doors closed, then the screaming started.

He jolted awake in his seat. He quickly realized the screaming was not just in his dreams. The kid’s screaming was echoing throughout the ship. Din felt his heart leap up into his throat. Had someone gotten onto the ship? Was she being hurt?

He jumped up from his seat and raced down the ladder. His heart was pumping madly in his chest. He was prepared to fight someone, to kill them if they went near the kid. But there was nobody else in the ship. The kid was still in the bed, screaming and crying as she thrashed in her sleep. She was having a nightmare of her own.

“Hey. Hey, wake up,” he said loudly.

She continued to scream.

He reached in to gently shake her shoulder. “Wake up. It’s just a dream.”

Her eyes flew open and she looked wildly around in confusion. Her breaths were coming out in heavy pants. She shied away from his touch and scrambled backwards until she hit the wall. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she was still trying to separate her dream from reality. Had she been dreaming about the Devaronian? Her parents?

She finally realized where she was and that she had been dreaming. Fresh tears started falling from her eyes. She suddenly surged forward and wrapped her arms around his chest. She let out a wail that he felt in the depth of his soul. It was the cry of an orphan, someone who had no one left in the world.

“It’s ok,” he said. “You’re ok.”

She hugged him tight as she sobbed into his chest, her tears rolling off her face and onto his beskar. He lifted himself onto the bed and rested his back against the wall. She laid right next to him, keeping her arms wrapped tightly around him.

“You’re safe now,” he said. He gently stroked her head, while continuing to let her cry against him. Her sobs eventually turned into whimpers before dying out. He continued to stroke her hair long after she had fallen back asleep.

He stayed like that for hours, afraid to move lest he wake her up. Eventually he too fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

They spent the next few days on Tatooine. Din wasn’t in a hurry to go after his next bounty target, which was extremely unusual for him. He liked to be kept busy, doing job after job after job without stopping. But while the kid was with him, he didn’t want to go chasing after criminals.

The next few nights were similar to the first. Whenever she fell asleep, and inevitably had a nightmare, he would hold her close and let her cry until she fell back asleep. She spent the days colouring and drawing in her book. He knew from her screams and cries that she could speak, but she was still yet to say a word. She was traumatised and scared, and everyone responded differently.

Din realized he needed to make a decision about the kid soon. The more time he spent with her, the more he was getting attached. And she was too. When he eventually let her go, it was going to be hard on the both of them.

He knew what he needed to do for her; what the best thing for her was. He needed to find a clan willing to take her on and raise her as a foundling. That wouldn’t be hard to do. There was nothing more important to Mandalorian’s than children.

Mandalore was not currently the safest place for children, so some clans had already moved their foundlings off world. He sent out a message, asking one of the off-world clans to take on a foundling. It didn’t take long for one of them to reply. Clan Sazel, now temporarily located on the planet Tuyret, would gladly accept a new foundling. 

As he set in the coordinates for Tuyret, he tried to ignore the feeling of disappointment settling in his stomach. It was for the best. He wasn’t ready for a foundling, and she needed a stable place to grow up.

Tuyret was a small, terrestrial planet, not dissimilar to Alderaan. Its people were known for being welcoming and friendly, and it was one of the few places that remained untouched by the Empire. Clan Sazel had established a compound on the outskirts of the capital city. He landed the _Razor Crest_ close by. He was yet to tell the kid about her new home. He decided to let her see it and spend some time there before telling her she would be staying.

Din had only met the clan leader, Ren Salzel, once previously. He had been well known on Mandalore for taking in foundlings and raising them as his own. Din knew the kid would be in good hands with him.

Ren met them outside as they stepped out of the _Razor Crest_. They nodded to each other in greeting.

“ _Morutar_. This is the foundling?” Ren asked, looking down at the child who was hiding behind Din.

“Yes. _Elek_.” Din’s _Mando’a_ was rusty to say the least. Since he was hardly ever around people who spoke it, his most commonly used language was basic. Whenever he was reunited with his people he had to remember to incorporate it into his speech.

He nodded again before leading them inside. The compound was enormous. There were so many doors leading off the hallway, Din knew he would get lost.

“How many people are here?” he asked.

“32 adults, 29 foundlings.”

At least she would have friends, children her own age to play with.

They passed a communal kitchen and dining room, many rooms for the kids to play in, and multiple bedrooms. Ren stopped in front of two doors.

“These will be your bedrooms,” he said.

They were small, bare rooms, containing a bed and dresser.

“ _Vor’e_.” 

“ _Ba’gedet’ye_.” Ren nodded before leaving them to settle in. Din wasn’t sure how long he was staying here. He wanted to get the kid settled in and use to all of the new people and the new space. But the kid was already so attached to him he wondered if he needed to leave for that to happen. As long as he was there the kid would always be looking for him, wanting to be around him. He was her safety net and in order for her to start to open up and be comfortable around other people, he had to leave. Eventually. But not right now.

He decided it was time to tell her why they were here; get her used to the idea while he was here instead of springing it on her when he went to leave.

“This is going to be your new home,” Din said. The kid stopped looking around the room and stared up at him. “They will take care of you here. And I will come back to visit.”

As expected, she didn’t say anything but Din swore he could see some panic and sadness in her eyes. He knew it would be hard for her to adjust but this was the best place for her. He decided to leave it there for now.

* * *

“How did you find her?”

Din and Ren were sitting in the corner of the dining room at a small table. The kid was sitting a few tables away eating some gi dumpling soup. Her gaze kept flicking between Din and a small group of foundlings playing at the other end of the room.

“I was hunting a murderous Devaronian. He slaughtered everyone in her village. She was the only survivor.”

“And she has not spoken yet?”

“Not a word. I’m guessing it’s some sort of trauma response.”

Din watched her watching the foundlings play. He could see the longing in her eyes. She wanted to join them, to be a part of their group, but was scared about rejection.

“Promise me she will be safe here,” Din said.

“You know she will be,” Ren replied. Din did not respond, and even with the helmet on Ren could feel the weight of his stare. “I promise she will be safe.”

Din nodded, grateful he had said the words.

“Have you told her you are leaving?” Ren asked.

“Yes.”

“How do you think she will cope when you do leave?”

“She will be fine,” Din insisted.

“She’s clearly attached to you.” As if to prove his point, the kid looked over to him again and smiled. “She will be devastated when you leave.”

“She’s only known me for a few days. Once I leave, she will forget about me in a few more days.” Even as Din said it he knew it was a lie. She would always remember him; the man who had saved her life. But just because he saved her life doesn’t mean he had any obligation towards her. He had already done more than some people would have; finding her a safe place to grow up. He didn’t need to do anything more for her.

She would stay here, make her new family here, and grow up. He didn’t have any obligation to be apart of her life. He could leave right now, walk out to his ship and never come back. But he knew that was not going to happen. He would check in, maybe once or twice a year, just to make sure she was going ok. That’s it, he told himself.

“You know that’s not true,” Ren said.

* * *

‘ _She’s clearly attached to you_.’

Ren’s words kept on going through Din’s mind. He knew they were true. And he knew he had grown attached to her. If he left now it would be hard for the both of them to adjust. He had to start distancing himself from her first. That why when he left, it wouldn’t be such of a shock to her. He hated that he had to do it but it would be the best thing, for both of them.

The first night was the hardest. Their rooms were next to one another so when she started crying in her sleep, he heard it through the walls. He fought against the urge to go to her and soothe her. She needed to go through this on her own.

He could hear the change in her cry when he woke from her nightmare. She started sobbing. After a few minutes he heard her door open, which was followed by a soft knock at his. He instinctively reached for his helmet but he quickly put it back down. She knocked again. He couldn’t open that door. She had to get use to him not being around.

She eventually went back into her room. Her small sobs continued to echo through his room. He hated himself for ignoring her, and maybe she would hate him too. Maybe making her hate him before he left would make it easier for her to not care when he left.

* * *

When Din knocked on her door in the morning, there was no answer. He was hit with a wave of guilt. Was she ignoring him because he ignored her? Good, he told himself. That’s what he wanted.

Instead of going back to his room he began wandering around the compound. He wanted to see every inch of the place before deciding if he could leave the kid there without him. As he was passing the dining room, he spotted a familiar face sitting at one of the tables. The kid was sitting in the corner of the room eating breakfast.

An involuntary smile took over his face when he saw her. She looked so sweet and innocent, eating all alone. You could almost pretend she hadn’t gone through a life-altering trauma recently. He was just about to go over to her when she was approached by another kid. She looked scared and stressed but after a few moments of the kid talking to her, she nodded. Suddenly a group of kids joined her at the table, all of them eating and chatting. While the kid didn’t speak to them, she did eventually relax and look comfortable in their presence.

This was good, Din told himself. She needed to make friends, and maybe they would be what she needed to start talking. The more friends she made here, the more she would feel comfortable here. It would soon feel like home and she wouldn’t notice his absence.

He wasn’t ready to leave her unattended with them so he stood near the doorway, watching from afar. Eventually all of the kids stood and ran outside to play together. As the kid rose from the table, she spotted Din in the doorway. She smiled and waved to him before running outside to join the rest of them.

He moved to the window to continue to watch her play outside. She had a large grin across her face as they all played a game of tag. It was one of the first genuine smiles he had seen from her. She could finally start to be a kid again here. 

He felt a tug in his gut as he watched another kid place a helmet on her head. Because they were not of age yet the children were able to remove their helmets as they please or not wear one at all. Seeing her wearing a helmet finally drove home how much history was repeating itself.

A parentless child, recused from the grips of death, adopted by a Mandalorian and raised within its culture. She was him. He could see her all grown up, wearing all of the Mandalorian armor.

He wanted to be apart of her future. He wanted to see her grow up, but he wanted the best for her and he knew he wasn’t it. He couldn’t offer her the life she deserved. She deserved more than him.

* * *

Din stayed for a week before deciding it was time for him to leave. Within that week he had seen the kid changing, becoming comfortable in her environment. Despite not talking, she had made friends and been welcomed with open arms. Everyday she ate and played with the other foundlings. She smiled more each day. She was finally home.

The only thing that hadn’t changed were the nightmares. Din still heard her cries every night. When she woke from her dreams, she didn’t try to go to Din anymore. Instead she laid in bed and continued to cry until she fell back asleep. Considering he still had nightmares about his own traumatic childhood, he didn’t expect hers to disappear anytime soon. He had just hoped she would be able to deal with them without him being there to comfort her.

The pit in Din’s stomach that had been there since he decided to leave the kid on Tuyret only grew when he decided it was time for him to leave. He told himself that once he left he would start to feel better. Once he got back to his normal life of bounty hunting and travelling, he would remember why he couldn’t take a kid on. He just had to take that step, he had to leave, and then everything would go back to normal.

He packed up the few belongings he had bought with him and took them back aboard the _Razor_ _Crest_. He briefly entertained the idea of leaving without saying good bye but he quickly quashed the thought. He couldn’t do that to her, and they both needed the closure.

As he walked through the compound the first person he came across was Ren.

“You leaving?” he asked Din.

“ _Elek_.”

“You going to say goodbye?” Din merely nodded in response. “Be gentle.”

Din nodded again before walking away. Be gentle? What did he think he was going to do? Say “see ya later kid” and walk away?

He found her in one of the other foundlings room. When she saw him standing in the doorway she waved enthusiastically. He motioned for her to join him in the hallway. She did, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“I…I have to go.” He watched as the smile immediately dropped from her face. Sadness and worry filled her eyes. He dropped to his knees so he was level with her face. “You will be safe here. They will take care of you. I will come back and visit you. I promise.”

Her eyes began glistening as tears threatened to fall. She leapt forward and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck, enveloping him in a hug. Din was momentarily taken aback. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had hugged him. He couldn’t have been much older than she was. After a second of hesitation, he tentatively placed his arms around her.

“You will be okay without me,” he promised.

She sniffled and reluctantly dropped her arms. He lifted his hand to wipe away a tear from her cheek.

“I’ll see you soon kid,” he said.

He stood and walked back down the hallway. He could hear her small sniffles echoing behind him. As he turned the corner, he made the mental decision not to glance over his shoulder. If he saw her standing there, crying, he might not be able to walk away. And he had to walk away, he told himself. He had to.

* * *

“I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold.”

Din’s hand was poised over his blaster holstered on his hip. The Iridonian he had been hunting was lying on the ground on his back. There was a large gash on the side of his face from the fight they had just engaged in. He could see the Iridonian calculating in his mind whether to keep fighting or give up. With a sigh he held out both of his hands, allowing Din to place the cuffs around them. He hauled him onto his feet and began leading him back to the _Razor_ _Crest_.

This was his third bail jumper that he had caught in as many days. Since leaving Tuyret he had been taking on job after job, trying to keep himself busy, getting back to his normal routine. He tried to ignore the feeling that something was missing.

After loading his bounty onto the ship and freezing him in carbonite, Din took the opportunity to remove his helmet and pause for a moment. It had only been two weeks since he left Tuyret but it felt like a lifetime. He wondered how the kid was going. If she was getting along fine without him there. He wanted to send a message to Ren to find out but he didn’t know what answer he wanted. If he said she was getting along fine he wouldn’t be able to feel a little bit disappointed. If he said she was struggling he would feel even more guilty for leaving her.

He couldn’t understand how someone could come into his life for such a short time yet much such an impact. He never wanted kids, he never wanted to take on a foundling. But he couldn’t stop thinking about the kid, thinking about what his life could be with her in it. Everyday he had to fight against the urge to go back and get her. He told himself she was in the best place for her. She didn’t need him.

He looked around his ship. It looked the same as it always did but now felt like it was missing something. It felt empty. He told himself he just needed time. Get back into his old routine and everything would go back to the way it was.

He climbed into the cockpit and set a course for Tatooine. The sooner he unloaded his latest bounties, the sooner he could get more and keep himself distracted. He watched the stars blur as they sped past the windows. As he spun around to flick a switch, he caught sight of something poking out from underneath the console. He reached down and pulled out the kids drawing book.

He suddenly felt guilty that he hadn’t realized she didn’t take her book with her. He began flipping through the pages. An involuntary smile spread over his face as he looked at her drawings. They were your basic kid scribbles, meaningless to anyone else but to him they were incredible. She had drawn a lot of flowers, love hearts, and solar systems with the planets having smiling faces on them. When he flipped to the last drawing in the book, it felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.

She had drawn a picture of the two of them. Din, in his armour and helmet, was standing next to her, holding onto her hand. She had drawn a big smile on her face. Underneath she had written in basic, ‘Morgan + Din’.

Morgan. Her name was Morgan.

It took everything in him not to turn the ship around and head back to Tuyret to get her.

* * *

Another week passed. Another week of him telling himself this was right. Another week of him ignoring his gut. He began wondering if his life was ever going to go back to the way it was before he rescued her. He was doing the same things he had been before, but now it felt different. It felt like there was a puzzle piece missing.

He had just taken on another bounty puck, but instead of flying off to locate the bounty, Din found himself sitting in the cockpit of the Razor Crest staring at the drawing of him and the kid. He kept glancing down to the words below it; ‘Morgan + Din’.

His staring was interrupted by a sound echoing through the cockpit that indicated he had a message.

After a few clicks on the dashboard, a small hologram of Ren appeared.

“Din.”

He could tell immediately from Ren’s tone of voice that something was wrong. When you grow up in a culture that restricts how much of a person’s face you can see, you quickly learn how to read other things about them more in depth, such as their posture, voice, and actions.

“It’s about the kid…there’s been an accident.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a dictionary:  
> Morutar- Welcome  
> Elek- Yes  
> Vor’e- Thanks  
> Ba’gedet’ye- You're welcome

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't forget to comment or leave kudos. Appreciating work keeps writers going!


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